Continued bombardment of Rafah will constitute a war crime, says Martin

Palestinians inspect the damage to residential buildings after airstrikes killed dozens of Palestinians, according to local health officials. Picture: Fatima Shbair/AP

Continuing Israel’s bombardment of Rafah would be a war crime, says Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who has vowed to continue funding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

As Israel threatens a further ground offensive in Rafah where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on US president Joe Biden to reconsider providing weapons to Benjamin Netanyahu's forces.

Mr Borrell sharply criticised the US for continuing to supply Israel with weapons to prop up its military campaign, while at the same time stating that too many people have been killed in Gaza.

"If you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed," he said.

At least 67 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air and sea attacks on Rafah in the early hours of Monday, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, during an Israeli mission which rescued two men taken hostage during the October 7 attacks.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin: 'To bomb and to mount a military operation in such a confined area with so many people is absolutely inhumane and unacceptable.' Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Mr Martin warned that Ireland, like many other countries, is deeply concerned at the humanitarian catastrophe likely if the Israeli armed forces proceed with the threatened ground offensive in Rafah, which is packed with civilian refugees from the five-month conflict.

"I am in no doubt but that a continued bombardment of Rafah will constitute a war crime," he said.

It will gravely violate international humanitarian law. 

"We are looking now at what is the largest refugee camp in the world — 1.5m people in Rafah alone — they cannot be displaced safely. To bomb and to mount a military operation in such a confined area with so many people is absolutely inhumane and unacceptable. 

"The international community must do everything it possibly can to put the pressure on Israel not to proceed with this."

Israel's Ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich: 'We need to make sure that we hold the correct people accountable for the tragedy of this war.' Picture: Niall Carson/PA

However, Israeli ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich said the military operation in Rafah is “necessary” to ensure the threat of Hamas is eliminated.

“What we’ve seen is tragic, what’s going on in Gaza, and we need to make sure that we hold the correct people accountable for the tragedy of this war that was started on October 7 by Hamas, this cynical playbook by this genocidal terrorist organisation,” she said.

She suggested that there are Irish politicians with “extreme voices” in support of a "global intifada” against Jewish people, and claimed most of the media coverage here has let Hamas "off the hook".

Mr Martin will meet with Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) when he arrives in Dublin this week to discuss financial support for the organisation.

A number of countries have halted payments to UNRWA after Israel claimed that 12 of its workers had links to the Hamas attacks which killed more than 1,200 Israelis.

Mr Lazzarini suggested that Israel, which made the accusation on the same day as the UN International Court of Justice issued an interim ruling in a genocide case being brought against it by South Africa, had yet to provide evidence to substantiate its accusations.